Hokie Game Day Thread

The Pack has had a week for Brown to heal up and get back into game shape. Hopefully it also gives Buckets and Purvis a chance to get mentally back in the game. Thanks to the ACC I have no desire to watch ACC basketball outside of the Pack so I have not seen VT play. I am assuming we will see another slow it down slug fest. I am expecting the Pack to end up 11-7 although after the last game I am a little concerned about that prediction.

I am going to go on a short rant here. The ACC needs to change the way it is reffing games. They need to stop this slow it down, grabbing, holding, painful to watch “defensive” style that seems to have taken hold in the ACC. You will not find a bigger basketball fan than I but, as I said, I do not watch ACC basketball because it is so boring. There is no need to change the rules, just call the rules that are in the books now. Stop the hand checking. Stop the hard hedging in which the forward rides the player to the midcourt line. Stop the grabbing when a player cuts (see Wood, Scott). Stop the sumo wrestling they allow for rebounds. My first and second grade teams play by the rules better than the ACC games.

By the way, did I mention it was boring? They are killing college basketball.

About Rick

1992 and 2002 graduate from NCSU. Born and raised an NCSU fan. I remember the good ol' days and they weren't in the last 20 years.
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In a couple of the retrospective looks at the ’83 season you could see the non-conference scores that were in the 40’s and 50’s. That is where college basketball was before the shot clock. We are getting back to that more and more. Coaches are control freaks. The slower the game is the more they think they can control it and the less talent matters.

Whilst I agree with you that the pendulum has swung too far in the “let ‘em play” direction, I remember lots of chatter on here in the past about how they used to call way too many ticky-tack fouls, and THAT was ruining the game.

Could not agree more. I remember the ACC when they called over the back when rebounding on a routine basis. Today it seems it takes a scene from Brokeback Mountain to get it called. On a side note, did State enter into an agreement with the devil whereby we can never run a full court press. If I have to watch bludgeon ball, can we at least cun into the opposition’s time frame to club their way to a shot. Going to game with family and it’s snowing. Go pack!

Main emphasis: limit Green as much as possible-make his teammates execute enough to actually appear to be a Division 1 team.

How?

Most teams would rotate defenders in order to gas Green by the last ten minutes he looks like a Bull Madrid about to take the sword. This is about 99% probable in how Gott/Lutz will proceed. Purvis-Zo-Lewis taking the roles (plz, plz no buckets).

The other 1% is press the Hokies in order to force other ball handlers the first 10-15 seconds of the shot clock and get them into a one shot, Green must take whatever he can get. This is so low a chance because we’ve gone conservative with our D as opposing coaches have decided to take the air out of the ball.

Why does this matter? Crappy teams are playing Big10 lite BBall and we’ve taken the bait. Gott has no problem with us sprinting on offense with a 6 or 7 man rotation but is hesitant to go for the up tempo defense. I’m not accusing him of being a bad tactition since he likely sees the likelihood of drawing fouls with uptempo defense where it is less likely to get called pushing it offensively with a charge call.

Result is we will play at a slow pace, contrary to our strengths, and be forced to play virtually error free with a high FT% Inferior teams love getting us into a room for small error and I expect it to be the same situation today.

Hopefully a margin of 6 point W with some clutch FTs. If its another last possession affair then lets pray for OT or Green passed out behind the bench.

Because of Green, I suspect we will see more of Purvis than WBS today. They really have no “Plan B” on offense, and not sure we want to give a still-gimpy Zo that defensive assignment.

Very surprised at the huge 16 point spread. Yes, I think we are almost definitely gonna win…but by 16? Been forever since we beat someone that badly, especially given that the Hokies will slow the tempo. Even if we do blow them out, it’s easy to get a backdoor cover during garbage time. I was expecting maybe a 9-10 point spread.

.. well … it’s been a slow news week for SFN to say the least…
but I’m thinking “no news the better”….

Today’s weather report inside the PNC….

1. Pack starts out in it’s normal slow mode…
2. Pack wins going away by double digits… behind an enthusiastic home crowd….
3. Green gets his 20
4. ‘Nervous’ & ‘Cuz’ are more relaxed and play better than in the last few games ….

Highstick, what about the Masta’s like Sendek, Izzo, and Brownall who can’t coach a lick and are just conning people that they are worth millions by turning Basketball into Mexican Wrestling entertainment?